


Heat Rising

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 21:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17190560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Askr is a land of new experiences for all the heroes summoned to it, as Mae and Boey are about to find out.For the FE Compendium 2018 Secret Anna!|Tumblr||Twitter|





	Heat Rising

Askr was a land of many wonders, and one such wonder was, in Mae's opinion, the kitchen.

It didn't look like anything special, especially for a kitchen in the fortress of the royal army - it was barely bigger than the kitchen in the priory, she thought, maybe double the size of the kitchen in the cottage she'd grown up in, and that kitchen had been a room that bled into the dining space.

No, what was wondrous about the kitchen was what was stored in it - open at all hours, and with no permanent staff, it was a 'Bring It Yourself, Cook It Yourself' space, and having so many heroes from so many worlds was an opportunity to taste meals from what felt like hundreds of cultures so different to Zofia, to Valentia, that it blew her mind.

And Kiran, the Great Summoner from a world even harder to fathom than most of the other heroes, had some of the most amazing (and confusing) food.

"So..." Holding up a package of wild colours and wilder symbols, Mae turned to Boey. "What do you think this is meant to be?"

"Poisonous," he said immediately, and she snorted.

"Someone spent way too much time listening to Nomah's Nature Lectures," she joked. "It's a package of food, not a frog, Boey." Well. She thought it was food, at least. She couldn't imagine any other reason for it to be kept in the kitchen, after all - Kiran was mischievous, and never discouraged pranks, but wasn't malicious. If there was a chance of...whatever this was being dangerous, they wouldn't have left it in the kitchen, where anyone (especially the younger heroes) could get at it.

Mae felt a chill run down her spine, and unease like premonition, but shook it off. She'd faced Duma. (Questionable) Food was nothing to her.

Gingerly, Boey reached out to take the package from her, and shook it, before poking it a bit. The weight and sounds said there was definitely something inside there.

"Okay, so it's food," Boey said, and handed it back to her. "...how do we cook it?"

Mae frowned, stumped. "I don't know," she admitted. "This is definitely food from Kiran, though, yeah?"

"Oh, absolutely," Boey said.

"Well, then. We just have to hunt ourselves down a summoner!"

"Or we could, you know, just eat something we actually know how to prepare without bothering the summoner, who likely has far better things to do than humour your whims, Mae."

"Oh, pish." She waved him off, as she exited the kitchen, making her way down the halls, and could feel him roll his eyes at her back. "Where's your sense of adventure, Boey?"

"I left it home, in Valentia," he said dryly.

"Well, too bad," she said, and stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm sure Kiran will be able to make time for us - it's not like we're being fielded a super lot, and let's be real, they work way too much anyway. A break would be good for them!"

"A 'break,'" Boey said, "As in, 'making us lunch.'"

"A break is a break!" Mae insisted, coming to a stop before the door that led to the room Kiran had claimed as the command office. She knocked, and after a moment, Prince Alfonse's voice told her to come in.

"Hey, Alfonse, Kiran!" She greeted with a jaunty wave, and behind her Boey sighed.

"Your Highness, Kiran," he nodded to them. "Decorum, Mae," he hissed at her.

Alfonse smiled up at them tiredly, looking faintly amused, and slightly relieved for the break from paperwork. "What can I help you two with?"

"Actually, it's more what Kiran can help us with!" Mae said cheerily, and turned to the summoner, who blinked at her in surprise.

"Is this about Celica again?" Kiran asked, and smiled sadly. "I really am trying to summon her, I promise." So far, they'd managed to summon Celica twice - but not the Celica Mae and Boey had known; instead a witch Celica, cloaked in purple flame. It hurt, everytime they saw her.

The reminder quieted Mae down, before she managed to shake the gloom off with her customary cheer and summon up another smile, if one slightly weaker than the grins that came before it. "Actually," she said, and held up the bright package, "we're here about this."

For a moment, Kiran looked confused - and then, for a brief second, Boey could have sworn he saw unholy glee light up in their eyes before he blinked, and they were just smiling normally.

"Oh, I'd forgot I'd put that in the cupboards," they said. "You have my permission to eat it, if that's what you're after!"

"We're more here because, well, we don't know how to eat it," Mae admitted, sheepish. "We were wondering if you could help?"

"They can," Alfonse said, verbally shoving Kiran out of the office door. "Absolutely." When Kiran scowled at him, he added without looking up, "you need a break, Kiran."

"Fine, fine," Kiran sighed, and pushed away from their desk, making their way to the doorway where Mae and Boey stood. "Let's get going then!"

Once they arrived at the kitchen, watching Kiran showed that the Mystery Food - which proved to be a noodle dish - was actually rather simple to make, which the bright colours on the packaging that had screamed 'WARNING' belied. Mae was, she could admit to herself, a little embarrassed that she'd had to go ask for help with something that ended up being so quick and easy, but it wasn't like she'd been able to read whatever language the symbols scrawled all over it had been.

"Here we are!" With a cheerful spin, Kiran placed the dish down in front of Mae, and offered her a fork. "Dig in," they said, and grinned.

Mae gave them a smile of thanks. "It smells delicious!" She said, and it did - all warm spices and rich sauces. She and Boey were sharing the dish, and since she'd claimed the first fork, she also claimed the first bite.

The first thing she registered was that it tasted just as good as the scent would have suggested. The second thing she registered was that she had no way of double confirming that, because the heat that followed the initial burst of flavour had scoured all sense from her tongue and scalded her throat as she'd instinctively swallowed. Her eyes immediately started watering, and she glanced up at Kiran, who was grinning eagerly down at her...like they'd been waiting for a reaction.

Evil! She thought, and then remembered Boey, right there by her side. ...evil.

She grinned.

Growing up on Novis had been fun. Growing up with Boey, 'I eat raw flour to gross Mae out,' had been an experience.

Payback time, she thought, and blinked back the tears that had sprung to her eyes, as she handed Boey the fork and nudged to dish over to him with a grin.

"You okay there, Mae?" he asked suspiciously. "You're looking a little red."

Kiran snorted, but Mae didn't let her smile waver. "Really?" She asked. "I feel fine. Better than fine, in fact - that tasted really good!" She turned her smile to Kiran, to really sell the act, and the summoner looked like they were five seconds from breaking down into cackles.

Luckily, before Kiran's behaviour could throw him off, Boey put a forkful of the noodles into his mouth, and Mae knew the exact moment the heat him like it had her; his body froze stock still and he made this bizarre choking noise in the back of his throat that had Mae giggling.

Kiran lost it.

That set Mae's giggles off even more, and soon she'd lost herself to a fit of laughter. By the time she'd regained her senses and wiped away her tears, gasping for air, she looked over to see Boey staring at her with a perfect poker face on.

Once he was sure she was looking, he picked up the fork once more and shovelled another mouthful down, keeping the poker face perfectly - not a single bit of his face so much as twitched.

Mae's last breaths of laughter died out, and something else she was familiar with rose up in its place - competition.

She scowled. Boey was not going to beat her at this!

She scrambled up for another fork, and then it was an exercise in ignoring the heat and trying to elbow Boey out of the way, shovelling noodles into her mouth almost completely blind as tears she couldn't control streamed from her eyes.

"Oh my god," Kiran gasped, still laughing, "oh my god, I wish I had a camera."

Once they were done, and all the noodles were gone, filled with suffering, they turned to Kiran and asked who they thought the winner had been.

With complete frankness, Kiran said they had no idea who had eaten the most of the noodles, but, quite frankly, thought that the real winner had been them, for getting to see such a show.


End file.
